Chapter Ten

'Mum is coming round today' said Brian, reminding Cassie over breakfast. Cassie hadn't forgotten but she had been trying to put it out of her mind.

'You took her to the venue' said Cassie, 'so she's seen the place, my mum has seen the place, they can't possibly have anymore more to add about the wedding can they?' This was more a hope than a genuine belief.

'I didn't think they'd both be so interested in vetting the venue before we booked it' said Brian, who had heard about Cassie's altercation with Romilda about the venue from her so when his own mum was suggesting venues he volunteered to take her round to the one they'd picked quite quickly. They'd taken them round separately so that they didn't need to worry about Romilda saying the wrong thing around Martha and her getting suspicious but they both seemed happy enough with where they'd chosen once they'd had the tour which had been a huge sigh of relief and they'd booked it before anyone changed their mind. Brian was pretty sure they were wearing out their welcome at the hotel when they turned up for a third tour of the place with Martha when they hadn't booked it yet but they seemed happy enough when he put down the deposit.

'Let's hope it's the last thing they think we need their approval for then' said Cassie. 'We've already had to increase the number of guests we booked for with the lists of people they both want us to invite.'

'I know' said Brian 'so much for the small wedding we were planning. I'd have put my foot down if it wasn't for the fact they're both helping to pay for it all.' Brian didn't earn as much as he would like nursing at the hospital; Cassie was essentially working two different jobs with her muggle job at the hospital and then collating and writing up her research on muggle medicine for the magical hospital, so thankfully she was earning quite a bit more, although that did sting Brian's pride a little. Nevertheless he wanted to pay for as much of the wedding as he possibly could but he couldn't stretch to the whole thing so with both of their mothers wanting to increase the guest list he was actually grateful for their help and if that was the only concession for that help then he was happy to make it. He had a feeling though, that at least with Romilda that it wasn't going to be the only concession. 'At least they didn't complain too much about the fact we're having the wedding on a Friday.' They had found that not only were most Friday dates available but they were cheaper as well so had booked the wedding for Friday the sixth of June.

'We could have just eloped' said Cassie. 'We still can!'

'No' said Brian smiling 'I know you'd always regret not having your friends and family there'

'You're right' said Cassie with a little laugh. 'You do know me well!' and she gave him a little kiss.

It was about the middle of the morning when Martha arrived at the house. Neither Brian nor Cassie had been able to relax knowing that she was going to be turning up at some point that morning so it actually felt like a relief when the doorbell finally chimed.

'Would you like some tea Mum?' asked Brian after he'd welcomed her in and taken her coat for her.

'Actually I'd better not' said Martha, who left the statement hanging. Brian could have left her hanging there but he decided to play along.

'Why's that Mum?' he asked, feeling like she was scripting him.

'Because me and Cassandra will be heading out very soon' she said with a triumphant tone.

'We will?' asked Cassie, looking at Brian but he shrugged back at her as it was the first he'd heard of it.

'And not me?' asked Brian. Cassie and his mum had never really spent any time together without him there so for his mum to arrange that and keep it as a surprise was making him very apprehensive.

'Not for this I'm afraid' said Martha grinning, she looked like she was on the verge of even giggling.

'What are we doing Martha?' asked Cassie. She had been put in the position of either having to say she couldn't so whatever had been planned before knowing what it was and potentially saying no to something that she would have liked and upsetting her future mother-in-law, or not protesting that she was busy and therefore feeling obliged to carry out whatever was planned before knowing what it was. She had chosen the polite route and decided that maybe a day out with Martha would be a good day anyway, they could perhaps form a better bond and she might find Martha more supportive than her own mother for the wedding.

'I've booked us some appointments in town' said Martha, the grin, if anything getting bigger. 'It's very exciting!'

'Are you going to tell us what it is Mum?' asked Brian, who had seen how worried Cassie was looking and wanted to find out for her sake.

'We're going to go wedding dress shopping!' said Martha, the sentence almost bursting out of her. 'I've cleared out my day and I've made us appointments at the best shops in town. Before we go though' she said as she walked through to the living room and Brian noticed for the first time that she had a folder sticking out of her handbag 'I've got some pictures to show you so that we can start to get a good idea before we get there.' Cassie just had her mouth open as Martha walked past her into the front room and settled down on the sofa.

'I'm sorry' said Brian quietly to her in the hallway before they walked into the front room and Cassie took a seat next to Martha.

'Well you can't be here' said Martha as soon as Brian walked in. 'We can't talk about the dress in front of you!'

'We can't?' asked Cassie, confused. 'Why not?'

'It's bad luck dear!' said Martha looking astounded at Cassie. 'The groom can't see the bride before the wedding so he can't see the dress either.'

'It's bad luck to see pictures of dresses other people are wearing?' asked Cassie confused 'while I look through them to see what I want to wear?'

'You might see the perfect dress or say what you like and don't like' said Martha sounding horrified at Cassie's nonchalance 'and then he'd know what you're wearing!'

'But I don't know what I want to wear' said Cassie. 'I was thinking of probably having a purple one.'

Martha audibly gasped at this and then started coughing so much Cassie was getting worried about her. She finally managed to compose herself enough to speak again.

'You can't wear purple!' Martha declared and Cassie was quite taken aback by this.

'I can' she said simply. 'I particularly like purple.'

'Erm, Mum' said Brian from the doorway and Martha turned to look at him with more shock.

'You're still here!' she said with further outrage, seeming now to be unsure where to direct her consternation.

'Yeah' said Brian sheepishly. 'It's Cassie's dress you know, she can wear whatever she wants.'

'It's not a party dress' said Martha, chiding Brian now. 'It's her wedding dress! If she doesn't want to wear white then it should at least be cream or ivory.'

'I don't really like white' said Cassie. 'With my dark hair and pale skin it really washes me out, I prefer richer colours.'

Martha took a deep breath in and out with her eyes closed, then she took another deep breath in and out again before she then opened her eyes and spoke.

'We'll go to the dress shops' she said 'and you'll be able to see how lovely you look in the beautiful white dresses and I'm sure you'll change your mind.' Cassie went to reply but got cut off before she could. 'Now we'll look through these pictures I've found for you before we have to set off and we'll have a lovely time with you trying on the dresses and finding the right one.'

'I've alre-' started Cassie but Brian cut her off this time.

'That sounds great Mum' he said. 'You two can go and have a look to see if there's anything Cassie likes and if there isn't then she doesn't have to get any of those ones.' He looked at Cassie pleadingly and she gave in. She was going to say how she's got a lovely purple dress upstairs that she hasn't worn yet but it did seem like the easiest thing to do was just to humour Martha for the day and then she could just have the dress she wanted.

'So what kind of thing are you thinking of' asked the shop assistant to Cassie. Before she managed to reply though, Martha was already speaking for her.

'Well this is the first shop we're visiting' Martha said 'so we need to get an idea of what she likes and doesn't like yet so we really need to try a bit of everything.'

The shop assistant smiled at Martha and looked back to Cassie. 'So what kind of thing would you like to try first?' she asked.

'Well I was thinking of maybe something purple?' Cassie said. The assistant raised her eyebrows and Martha laughed a really fake laugh Cassie hadn't really heard from her before.

'Hahaha that's very funny isn't it' said Martha to the assistant. 'She's a real joker you know.' The assistant wasn't sure how to react now since Cassie wasn't laughing or indicating it was a joke in any way.

'Well, shall I bring out some of our most popular dresses and you can see what you think of them?' asked the assistant looking at Cassie but then turning to Martha as she seemed to already know that Martha would be doing the answering.

'That sounds like an excellent place to start' said Martha.

'Ok, let's go through to the changing room area and I'll bring through some dresses to see what you think.'

The assistant led them through to a large room with a corner which could be separated off with curtains and she disappeared back into the store.

'You shouldn't say things like that whilst we're here' said Martha in a stage whisper. 'They don't do purple wedding dresses so that's not what we're here looking for.'

'Right' said Cassie who determined from this that they weren't actually looking for a dress she liked at all, they were looking for a dress Martha liked and she wished she'd thought to bring her wand with her as she was sure she could cast a spell on the dresses or on Martha that would make them all look horrible on her.

The assistant came back through and back out again a few times, hooking more dresses onto the hooks high up on the wall each time she came in until there were about a dozen dresses hung up.

'So' said the assistant to Cassie, 'do any of them jump out at you?'

Cassie had a look along the line of dresses. A lot of them were covered up by the dresses hung up on top of them but she could see four or five of them, and they all looked about the same to her; they were all white or close to white, they all had sparkly bits on, though she did like the sparkly bits, and they all looked huge.

'They all seem a bit, well, a bit big' said Cassie, glad of a chance to actually state her own opinion for once.

'I always think they look big on the hangers too' said the assistant smiling 'but people usually feel different once they put them on. It's worth trying to see how you feel about it.'

'What about this one?' asked Martha pointing to one on the end which looked even bigger than the others.

'Shall we try that one on first?' asked the assistant to Cassie. 'Even if it's to rule it out, it all helps in working out what's right for you.'

'Ok' said Cassie, unconvinced.

The assistant helped her get into the dress in the changing rooms and with each dress having only one sample in stock then she had to be bulldog clipped at the back to make it fit right which wasn't quite the look Cassie was going for but of course she knew it wouldn't be like that if she got one for herself. The dress had so many layers of fabric she got a bit tangled up trying to get it on and she didn't think she'd have managed it if the assistant wasn't managing it all for her. Once she was in, the assistant told her to hang on whilst she popped out to grab a hoop as well. Cassie couldn't believe there was any need to add any more layers to the masses and masses of fabric already on the dress and she couldn't work out how you could manage to walk in it. When the assistant came back though, she got Cassie to put an underskirt on beneath the dress which had rigid hoops built in which moved the fabric away from her legs and walking suddenly seemed like it wouldn't be a problem at all. Cassie remembered what her own mum had said to her recently though and thought walking wasn't likely to be a problem if she got her way anyway as she'd be literally floating down the aisle.

The assistant pulled back the curtains and Cassie walked out into the middle of the room.

'Oooooh!' said Martha sounding very impressed.

Cassie was directed to stand on a little pedestal in front of the large full-length mirror and once she did she saw herself in the dress.

'You look magnificent!' said Martha delightedly.

Cassie wasn't sure what she looked like but magnificent was definitely not a word which fit the bill. She was about to say she looked like she'd had an enlargement charm cast on the dress but managed to stop herself.

'I look like a tiny doll in a dress made for a human being' was the best she could think of to describe it. 'You can't actually see me for the dress.'

'Nonsense' said Martha. 'You look like a proper bride!' She seemed to be swelling with pride at the sight for some reason but there was no way Cassie was going to humour her on this dress.

'Absolutely wrong' Cassie said 'in every way.'

'Ok' said the assistant cheerfully 'we can rule out the really big dresses then, we've made progress already!'

This continued through all the dresses the assistant had brought through for Cassie to try on; Martha cooed over all of them and Cassie felt like she was putting on someone else's clothes and felt an absolute fool in all of them.

'I think we need to go for something simpler' said the assistant.

'And purple?' asked Cassie hopefully but she saw Martha frowning at her for this comment.

'We do have bridesmaid dresses you can get in a huge range of colours' she said 'and they tend to be simpler than the bridal dresses.'

'Absolutely not' said Martha before Cassie was able to say a word. 'And I'm afraid we need to rush away as we have another appointment at another bridal shop that we need to get to.'

'Right' said the assistant, looking apologetically at Cassie. 'I'll write down the details of the one which you liked best.' This had been a gown which seemed to be made all of lace and hung quite simply and delicately without any pomp or fuss which Cassie had liked but it still didn't feel like her dress.

The experience at the other two shops Martha had booked appointments at was much the same as in the first although Cassie was at least able to go into them saying what she had absolutely ruled out.

The more she got dressed up in white, cream or ivory dresses, the more alien the colour was feeling on her. She had never worn white before and she really felt she just didn't look like herself. In the final shop though, she saw something she liked.

'What's that one there?' Cassie asked as she saw just the edge of a gown that intrigued her on one of the racks when they were having a last look through the dresses before their appointment ended.

The lady in the shop took the dress off the rack and hung it up for Cassie and Martha to see. 'This one came in just a couple of weeks ago actually' said the lady. 'It's quite an unusual one for a wedding dress but we took a sample anyway just in case.'

'It's beautiful!' said Cassie staring at it.

The dress was golden, not the type of gold where the colour had just brushed the fabric but a much deeper, richer gold. The fabric looked like it was made of liquid and the cut of the dress would hug the figure as it slid down the body. There were sparkling jewels dotted over the dress which weren't noticeable until they caught the light and they twinkled like stars, popping out of the dress.

'Maybe you're the person we got it in stock for then' said the lady in the shop sounding slightly surprised. 'Shall we go and try it on?'

They went back to the changing room where Cassie had already tried on about half a dozen dresses and Cassie didn't need any help fighting through layers with this dress, it slid over her and dropped into place perfectly.

The back of the dress dipped low to the middle of her back and the front came high up to her neck. There were even matching gloves included which came down the arm but stopped in a point at the wrist. The fabric pooled at her feet creating a train of liquid gold and Cassie knew this was the dress for her before she even saw herself in the mirror.

When she did stand in front of the mirror she couldn't find any words to say other than simply 'Yes.'

Martha didn't look very happy about the choice but she seemed to take pride in the fact it was because of her that they had come to the shop and therefore the dress was found because of her.

Cassie was ready to take the details of the dress to be able to go home and talk over what the budget was with Brian when Martha interjected.

'Order it now Cassie' said Martha, her voice sounding soft now, which was different to how she had been all day. 'It's only six months until the wedding now, you need to get it ordered.'

'I can't Martha' said Cassie though she thought six months was ages to order a dress, Martha obviously didn't think it was. 'We haven't talked about what our budget is yet so I can't just order a dress before I talk to him.'

'You don't need to' said Martha. 'I'd like to buy your dress for you.'

It made sense to Cassie then why she had shown such a close interest in what dress she was going to have and why she had booked these appointments for the two of them together.

'I couldn't ask you to do that Martha!' said Cassie, unused to such generosity.

'You're not asking' said Martha smiling, 'I'm offering. I don't have a daughter, Brian is my only son so this is the only wedding I'm going to be a "mother of" at, and I'd love to do this for you for the day. Will you let me buy you your wedding dress?'

'That is so kind and so generous of you Martha' said Cassie gratefully. 'I'd love you to, thank you!' Cassie and Martha shared a big hug and Cassie forgave everything that Martha had done that had annoyed her that day.

The lady in the shop took Cassie's measurements and ordered the dress and Cassie left the shop feeling like she'd had a levitation charm cast on her and she was walking on air.